


in the little world

by Luxio_Nyx



Series: into a better shape [2]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Kid Fic, Off-Screen Bruce Banner, Parent Tony Stark, Timeline What Timeline, Tony Stark Has A Heart, We make our own timeline here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-10-09 23:55:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17414987
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luxio_Nyx/pseuds/Luxio_Nyx
Summary: Tony still has nightmares. So do the twins.The Hulk is a surprisingly good role model for children.





	in the little world

**Author's Note:**

> Hi all!
> 
> This is the second in the "into a better shape" verse featuring Sarah and Jaime Stark. Just to give you all an idea of where I'm headed, there will basically be either a one-shot or a full-length fic for each of the Phase 1 Marvel movies (in the order of their release where possible, but honestly I'm being pretty loose with the timelines here), followed by fics or one-shots covering one or more of the remaining Marvel films leading up to Infinity War and Endgame.
> 
> into a better shape covered Iron Man, while this particular fic covers the Incredible Hulk. As mentioned above, I'm being pretty loose with the timelines but I will try and keep things as close to the actual MCU timeline as I can when it suits me.
> 
> Anyways, thank you to those who are coming back to the series and those who are checking it out for the first time. You are all awesome, and hopefully you're enjoying reading this as much as I'm enjoying writing.
> 
> As always, review if you can and please forgive me for any mistakes in Pashto.
> 
> P.S., for anyone who is curious, the titles for all of the fics in this verse come from Charles Dickens's "Great Expectations". This is partially due to "Into the Spiderverse", which was amazing.

             Tony Starks wakes to the sound of children screaming.

              He realizes that _his_ children are not the ones screaming by the time he leaps out of bed and reaches the door to their bedroom. J.A.R.V.I.S. has failed to set off the usual security procedures, for one thing, and Rhodey – who is currently taking up the guest room while on leave and is always the first person after Tony to come to the twins’ aid when he can– is nowhere in sight.

              Tony opens the door and looks in on the twins all the same, mouth curving into the smile he reserves solely for them when he sees that Sarah has crawled into Jaime’s bed again, her small arm wrapped protectively around her brother’s chest. It’s a habit she hasn’t broken in the year since he brought them home; Tony likes to think that it’s a habit she had before the bombing that took away her home and her family. He knows, from his own observations and from the notes from the child psychiatrist that he and Pepper found as soon as the twins revealed that they could speak in full sentences, that her protective streak is likely the result of trauma.

              The twins’ room is silent. He can still hear children screaming in his ears.

*                         *                         *

              His last Iron Man mission was not… ideal.

              It begins with a truly depressing level of familiarity: another stash of his weapons – always his, it doesn’t matter that he hasn’t made anything more threatening than armor upgrades in the past one and a half years because the weapons, the deaths, they are _all his_. Another group of militants, terrorists, and wannabe vigilantes who decide to expand the sphere of influence.

              Another village, town, city in ruins.

              The mission ends with the armor cache destroyed and his armor streaked with ashes, rubble and blood. He keeps flying between the ruined buildings and the nearest friendly military base long after the militants are tied up and unmoving on the ground, his arms full of injured men, women and children. The men are typically screaming, the women crying. The children are silent, their roving, red-rimmed eyes the only _living_ part of them.

              His final passengers are three children, two cradled securely in his arms and the eldest lying against his back with arms looped around Iron Man’s neck as he carefully flies them over the foothills. The two in Tony’s arms are silent like the others have been but the third, his head lifting every so often to take in the landscape flying past them, lets out a shocked, breathless laugh when Tony puts on an extra burst of speed, giving Iron Man all the encouragement he needs to add the tiniest flare to his landing.

              The landing is still careful, far more careful than Tony ever is when he only has to worry about himself, but it’s enough to earn him another awestruck cry from the child on his shoulders. The boy cranes his neck to look back at Tony when his parents swoop in to carry him away, and his smile reminds Tony of Jaime.

              There are reporters milling around the base, war correspondents from the few news organizations that Tony can stomach. One of them gives Tony a wave once he realizes that Iron Man is not about to take off again anytime soon, his smile tightlipped but relatively genuine beneath a carefully trimmed head of silver and brown. Tony offers him a half-hearted salute in return and settles back on his heels when the man takes that as permission to move forward, his cameraman in tow.

              A year, a lifetime ago, Tony might have tried something. He might have invited the man onto his jet for an “interview”, offered him a drink and waited to see where it went, but – well. He hated to leave the twins alone for more than a day, and having two twins with frequent nightmares and a habit of crawling into his bed every three nights tended to put off most romantic partners.

              The reporter – Andrew? Scott? Jenson? He can’t keep track of them on his best day. – slips deftly to the side to let the reunited family through, a considering gleam in his eye the only sign that he’s already singled them out for his next interview. The idea makes something in Tony’s gut curl, but he knows how that industry works, knows what they need to do to survive, and he is reasonably certain that what’s-his-name has enough skill that he’ll be gentle –

              “No children to take home today, Mr. Stark?” the reporter calls out, and Tony whips his head around so fast he nearly gets whiplash even with the suit.

              The tight-lipped smile widens into something close to a smirk and the reporter takes another step forward, only to nearly be blown over when Tony abruptly shoots into the sky and flies away.

              Tony bypasses the jet waiting for him in New Delhi. The Iron Man suit has crossed oceans before when it needed to, and he makes it home before the twins are asleep. His stunt stays off of the evening news, but somehow Pepper, Rhodey and Happy learn about it regardless.

              The reporter’s question changes nothing. Technically, everyone is aware of the twins’ existence: their adoption is public record, and he and Pepper had worked together to ensure that both Sarah and Jaime are set to inherit the company once Tony dies. The incident in mid-March when an ambitious paparazzo gets a shot of the twins playing on the beach with Happy, Pepper and Tony is both the first time that Tony regrets revealing his identity as Iron Man. It also marks one of the few times that he has been genuinely afraid of Pepper and is the only time that any photographer has the balls to get close enough to his twins to even catch a glimpse of them.

              He remembers the interviews and press events, remembers Howard and Maria ushering him out to smile and look cute and precocious in front of the cameras. He remembers having his face plastered across every magazine cover at least once before he turned six.

              Sarah and Jaime will never have those memories, Tony has made sure of that, but apparently, it’s too much to ask to have them kept out of the media entirely.

*                         *                         *

              “Papa?”

              Sarah blinks up at him from the bed, her dark eyes furrowed and confused beneath a halo of chestnut hair.

              “Papa?” she mumbles again. “ _Tsa pesha da?_ ”

              Tony shakes his head and smiles automatically at her greeting. “Nothing, _shirina_. I was just thinking, that’s all.”

              Sarah frowns and shuffles away from Jaime and out of bed, causing her brother to wake up as well once he registers the loss of contact.

              “Sarah?”

              “Papa had a nightmare,” Sarah tells Jaime, her gaze locked on Tony and practically daring him to contradict her.

              Tony bows his head and glances at his watch, sensing more than seeing Jaime climb out of bed and toddle towards him to tug at the leg of his pajama pants.

              “Was it bad?” the boy whispers. “Like ours are?”

              Tony bites his lip and bends down to pull Jaime into a hug, his other arm held out expectantly until Sarah slams into him a moment later.

              “I’m sorry,” he whispers, and it isn’t an answer but it’s enough for both of his children to tighten their grips around his neck. He straightens up with a grunt and waits until two sets of legs have wrapped around his waist before he starts moving. “Anyone up for a lab night?”

              “Dum-E’s fan needs fixed,” Sarah informs him. “Can I do it?”

              “You know the rules, Gumdrop, no tools until age five. You can watch and let me know if I do it wrong,” he adds when both Sarah and Jaime begin to grumble mutinously against his neck.

              Tony waits until J.A.R.V.I.S. opens the doors to the labs, waking up Dum-E, U and Butterfingers in the process, before he speaks again. “If watching me repair Dum-E isn’t enough to keep you occupied, I _did_ come across some new Hulk footage the other – _oof_.”

              Jaime perks up and starts wriggling at the mention of the Hulk. He twists his way out of Tony’s arms and makes straight for their usual viewing area in the back seat of one of Tony’s hot rods. Sarah is more patient, waiting until Tony has set her down and Dum-E has given her a greeting chirp before she scrambles after her brother.

              Jaime already has his hands on the controls, twisting, pulling and poking with remarkable ease until he has the next set of video files ready to view.

              “Where did they come from?” he asks excitedly. “Did Aunt Pep’s friend get them for you?”

              “ _No_ ,” Sarah huffs. “Agent doesn’t like Papa – right Papa?”

              “Not many people do, Bluebell,” he quips. “And to answer your question, Snickerdoodle, I _borrowed_ it from Agent because Agent’s boss has a horrible security system.”

              Sarah and Jaime smirk in unison, a favorite action of theirs that has caused Rhodey, Pepper, and Happy to shudder and grumble about Tony’s influence more than once, and press play after Tony gives them a nod. Within moments, a roar shatters the silence of the lab. The twins are riveted, their dark eyes tracking every movement the Hulk makes across Tony’s holoscreens. Every so often, Sarah or Jaime will gesture for J.A.R.V.I.S. to bring up specs that they are just shy of being able to read, details of Banner’s experiments with the Super Soldier serum and estimates of the Hulk’s strength, stamina and agility. Jaime mutters something about a Hulk-sized armor. Sarah talks him down to pants, and the two of them combined negotiate their ideas down to a stretchy form of yoga-wear that the green giant could keep on him in any form.

              Tony listens to them all with a faint smile on his face, his own eyes locked on the tiny screens that J.A.R.V.I.S. pulled up for him the moment he entered the lab.

              His blood toxicity levels are up again.

              Tony’s smile wavers, once, before he strengthens it through sheer force of will. In less than a minute, he has Dum-E making him a smoothie and is settled snugly between two fascinated three-year-olds, a green giant rampaging across the screen in front of him.

              “Did I miss anything good?” he asks, because Sarah is frowning on one side of him and, on the other, Jaime is turning a shade of red reserved for his rare temper tantrums.

              “He called the Hulk a monster,” Jaime spits from between gritted teeth. “That – one of the Air Force people.”

              “Army, Jay-Jay,” Rhodey calls from the doorway, still a little bleary-eyed and bearing two steaming cups of coffee in his hands. “Those guys are Army.”

              “Bless you, Rhodey-bear,” Tony sighs when Rhodey passes him one of the mugs. The twins begin to shuffle as soon as Rhodey climbs into the car, pushing Tony along with them until there is just enough room for Rhodey to settle in beside Jaime.

              “I must’ve missed the memo for a movie night,” Rhodey muses.

              “It was a last minute thing,” Tony assures him.

              “The _Army_ people called Hulk a monster,” Jaime hisses, in case the adults missed his statement the first time.

              “I heard that,” Rhodey agrees.

              “But he _saved_ people,” Sarah argued.

              “He caused a lot of damage, Starshine,” Tony points out, though privately he agrees with her.

              “ _You_ damage things all the time, though, Papa,” Jaime points out and Tony barks out a laugh.

              “They don’t like him because he’s green,” Sarah mumbles. “He’s different.”

              _That_ makes Tony stop laughing abruptly, his mind whirling with reminders of how dangerous it is to be _different_. Reminders of how different he is, how different his own children are, and how dangerous it will be for them once he is gone.

              “We’re pretty different,” he says aloud. “Maybe he’d like to spend some time with us, get some safety in numbers.”

              Sarah and Jaime _beam_ at him, already bursting with ideas and suggestions and so much excitement that any new observer would think that he has just offered to take them to Disneyland. They bounce ideas off of him and each other, switching seamlessly between English and Pashto until even Tony has trouble following them.

              Rhodey grimaces and waits until Jaime and Sarah have scrambled out of the car to draw up “plans” (which Tony will frame later) before he leans over and fixes Tony with a disapproving look.

              “I don’t think the Hulk is the best person to bring over for a play date, Tones,” he hisses.

              “It looks like he’s got the control part down,” Tony argues, pointedly ignoring the fact that the Hulk onscreen is methodically destroying half of Harlem. “And I’m not asking him to live with us.”

              “Tony -”

              “Being different shouldn’t make someone a monster,” Tony says, shocking Rhodey into silence.

              Rhodes glances back at the two Afghan children bent over Tony’s workbench and chattering excitedly with two different robots and an A.I., his gaze sad and all-too-knowing.

              “Let me try and find him first,” Tony continues. “We’ll figure out what the next step is once I actually know how to talk to the guy.”

              “We? Oh no, no, I am not getting into any more illegal shit with you, Tones. One illicit vigilante is enough for my career, thank you.”

              “Technically, I’m not illegal. They haven’t passed any laws against me yet.”

              “Wait until the Senate hearing next month; maybe they’ll decide to pass it then.”

              Tony snorts and leaves Rhodey lounging in his car, intent on looking over his children’s plans before they actually convince the ‘bots to start constructing something. Again.

              He sets up a tracking system the next day. It sends him results six weeks later, after the decay from palladium poison has really started to take root and his to-do list has started to look more like a final will and testament than an actual schedule for the week.

              Tony gets the alerts on the Hulk’s supposed location in between blood toxicity readings, Senate hearings, and attacks both at home and abroad and saves them all to a folder that he does not believe he will live long enough to look through.

              The twins will find the alerts, though. They will know where to find the Hulk, will be able to decide whether or not to reach out to him, to bring him home. The Hulk will be one of the last gifts that Tony leaves them.

              It’s enough.

              It’s not enough.

              It’s never enough.


End file.
